Accor Buys Two Major Asian Hotel Groups

Accor has acquired two major Asia regional hotels groups in what it claims is the largest-ever consolidation of Asian hotels into a global hotel network.

The full acquisition of Century International Hotels and Zenith Hotels International has increased Accor`s network in the Asia Pacific region to over 200 hotels.

Earlier today, Accor announced that it had purchased the remaining 75 per cent of Century, bringing its shareholding to 100 per cent, following a similar move to acquire the remaining 51 per cent of shares in Zenith. Accor now fully owns both management companies.

Accor`s Deputy Chairman Asia Pacific, Jochen Dobel, said that the integration of Century`s hotels into the Accor group was now complete and all the hotels were now fully represented in Accor`s operational, sales, marketing and distribution systems.

Mr Dobel said that President and Chief Executive Officer, Brian Deeson, would remain at the helm of Century, in addition to becoming a Senior Vice President with Accor in the Asia Pacific region. Century would continue to look for new projects to bring to the group.

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In a separate agreement, Accor purchased the remaining 51 per cent of shares in Zenith, following its initial 49 per cent purchase in 2001. Currently there are six Zenith hotels (1,615 rooms) in the key Chinese cities of Dongguan, Liuyang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

An additional five hotels are also presently under development, all in mainland China. Zenith Chief Executive Officer, Ernst Zimmermann, will become part of Accor`s senior executive management team, fine tuning the integration of remaining hotels and playing an important role for Accor in China.

“The acquisition of Century and Zenith has given Accor unprecedented coverage across Asia, including in countries where we previously had little or no representation, such as the Phlippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong,” he said in a statement.

“In particular, the move highlights our priority to expand rapidly in China, where we have already established a strong foothold.”